[gtorich]

Got the motor out of my car today............cleaned up the bellhousing, not sure what the deal on this is.............thought i would run it by you guys............casting mark or crack.????

Looked at a few bell"s on the web..............seems they are missing this.

Rich

[b-man]

Seam where the casting forms come together.

Not an issue.

[johnta1]

Nothing on the outside?
I've seen some weird things in the aluminum. This a little different.
Could try grinding the 'crack' in a little spot and see how far it goes?




Didn't see B-man's response. Would agree with that.

[gtorich]

Originally Posted by johnta1

Nothing on the outside?
I've seen some weird things in the aluminum. This a little different.
Could try grinding the 'crack' in a little spot and see how far it goes?




Didn't see B-man's response. Would agree with that.

Thanks johna, and the B man...........couple more pics if they help any, nothing on the outside of the bell that i can see..........seems i have other little cracks beside the big one. lol

what im trying to wrap my head around is, on new bells or used bells, im not seeing that mark on any of them............

If someone has a pic with a bell like that.............i would feel a little better, throw up a pic of one will ya.

Rich

[b-man]

All normal features on a production line aluminum casting

You’re worrying about nothing.

Leave it alone and move on to the real important stuff.

[BILL BOWMAN1]

I agree with sanding it down and see what happens. It does look like it’s in the casting .

[Tom Vaught]

The casting line should disappear if you carefully grind it down.
If the casting line does show some voids in the casting I would scrap it.

Tom V.

[mgarblik]

IMO, the housing is not cracked. You can do a couple non-destructive tests on the "crack" to see. 1, lightly strike it with a little hammer and see if it rings like a bell, thus the name. 2. Have it dye penetrant tested. Easy process, non-destructive. I say it's not cracked because the crack does not continue to the bolt hole. The housing would need a starting point for the crack, a stress point. A bolt hole would make sense. Then it would continue to another point like the transmission pilot hole. Similar to the way a windshield cracks edge to edge. Grinding to see what happens will work as well. Some better detailed pics would help.

[ZeGermanHam]

I think it's very unlikely to be a crack rather than a simple casting line. My TH400 has similar looking casting lines in some places. Just part of the manufacturing process.

[Sirrotica]

Warm it up with a propane torch, if it's a crack, it will open up as it's heated. I really think it's a parting line from the die casting process though.

The reason you don't see it on other used BH is because there are many dies used, not all are cast in the same die, so they differ slightly from piece to piece. I definitely have seen lines in other Pontiac cast aluminum housings similar to yours, not at all uncommon

[Gary H]

Common look on the many, many bellhousings I've seen and installed over the years. Clean it up and install it.

[gtorich]

Thanks guys, im thinking of just using it, i dont race the car or anything like that, or the more i think about it, is to get a quick time bell and call it a day.

Joke of the day so far, thought might as well pratice indexing the bell housing.........got the cheapy from HF.............dont know how anyone can get that to work. lol

Rich

[hgerhardt]

I bet if you run your fingers over the "crack" it will be a high spot. If so, that mark was made from a crack in the die (the female tool into which the molten aluminum was cast). All the rest of those little spider "cracks" around the bolt bosses were also from cracks in the die.

You don't really need to do anything with it. It's more of a cosmetic thing than a structural issue.